McDonald’s Used Intricate Light Sculptures to Make Some of Its Loveliest Ads Yet

TBWA\Paris makes some of the most visually striking McDonald’s advertising anywhere, and its latest campaign might be its most artful so far.

The agency got French sculptor Olivier Favart to create intricate light installations resembling three menu items—the Big Mac, french fries and sundae. Then, Helmut Stelzenberger photographed them with a bokeh effect, which blurs the out-of-focus points of light. This gives the effect of nighttime, reinforcing the message of the ads, which is that McDonald’s is “Open late.”

See the ads here:

Favart used more than 250 feet of wire, 400 welds and some 1,100 LED lights to make the sculptures. Every single light was operated independently to generate a perfect bokeh look on camera. The sculptures took 10 days to build.

The campaign is an atmospheric take on TBWA’s earlier minimalist McDonald’s ads, showing simple illustrations of menu items. That work launched in 2014.